Image courtesy of Burger KingYesterday, Burger King introduced a new french fry called SATISFRIES™ that have "40% less fat and 30% fewer calories than the leading French fries." Although I'm not a big fast food consumer, this caught my attention!

What do they consider "the leading French fry?" That would be McDonald's. I found that to be slightly odd that they are using the competition as the reference point rather than their own fries. But that's ok. I'll go with it.

Burger King claims that 70 grams of SATISFRIES™ has 6.3 grams of fat as compared to 11.2 grams of fat in 70 grams of McDonald's fries. Similarly, there are 150.5 calories in 70 grams of SATISFRIES™ as compared to 226.8 calories in 70 grams of McDonald's fries.

How do they do it make a French fry with less fat? According to Burger King,"Just like most French fry recipes, SATISFRIES™ are made with thinly battered real whole potatoes. The difference is that the SATISFRIES™ recipe ensures that the French fries absorb less oil – only enough to keep each great tasting crinkle crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside." Basically a new batter that keeps more oil from saturating inside the fry. Interesting concept.

How do SATISFRIES™ compare to Burger King's own French fries? A small order of SATISFRIES™ is 270 calories, 70 calories, or about 20% less calories than in its standard fries. A small order of SATISFRIES™ has 11 grams of fat as compared to 15 grams in its standard fries, or about 27% less fat.

So let's see how this adds up. If God forbid you normally eat one small order of Burger King French fries each week, with the exception of say Christmas week and Thankgiving week, and decide to switch to the new SATISFRIES™, over the course of a year you would eat 3,500 less calories. According to www.howmanycaloriesinapound.com, there are 3,500 calories in one pound. So switching to SATISFRIES™ equals 1 less pound of body weight in a year. If you're looking to lose weight, perhaps a better approach would be to swap out your fries for the apple slices that Burger King offers up.